Adventurer in the Rift
by Betelgeiser
Summary: Robin has lived a relatively comfortable life thus far. Today was a special day, as it was his first time to leave his hometown, and live somewhere else, taking his first step towards independence. However, instead of chill life in the apartments, he gets monsters instead! Now he finds himself lost, in the world of Gamindustri.
1. Prologue

A car had pulled over on a sidewalk, in front of two boys chatting with each other. The taller one was carrying what seemed to be luggage, and the shorter one was talking to him, congratulating him. Although, the difference in height wasn't that explicit.

"So, Robin, good luck out there! Though, I'm sure there won't be any problem. We're talking about you after all."

"Alright Phil, see ya around. Don't miss me too much!" Both gave each other a quick fist bump and a hug before the taller one, Robin rides on the car, which incidentally had no driver on it. Robin waves goodbye to his friend, and focuses on the road.

He was 17 years old, and it had been his 7th year working as an intern on the company [Techne], a company where his father worked at. Back when he was a kid, he had an innate talent for making devices, and his father, seeing his potential, decided to take him in as an intern, hoping he could learn more. At first, Robin was indifferent, and only did things that he was told to do, sometimes with resistance, however on his second year, he had began developing a sense of initiative, and began gaining interest in his work. He continued to grow and expand his knowledge, and such a small step of being interested in his work had gotten him far. He had specialized in softwares, but also had some knowledge in building machinery.

As the self-driving car was doing the work for him, he was looking around at the city he wouldn't be seeing for awhile. It was his hometown, Prim, and to say it was a center of progress was an accurate observation. Barriers that acted as railings for the people on the sidewalk, preventing them from crossing while the walk sign is red, skyscrapers that are the center of trade of the city, streets that are very clean, courtesy of the robots that work to help maintain cleanliness in the surroundings, and the humans walking around, doing their daily activities. He could see people wearing suits, some wearing uniforms, and some wearing casual clothes.

Of course something that were always visible were the different holograms that scattered the city. Gone were the days of using billboards and large televisions for advertisements, holograms were the new trend, giving ads a more professional look, whilst costing companies less.

(I will surely miss this.)

Today he was going to be sent to a sister branch of the company located in another city. He was going to arrive in 2 hours, and so he sets the car to drive autopilot. He decides to pass the time by taking a nap, planning to wake up when he's 30 minutes away from his destination. He lets the sweet embrace of sleep overcome him, and soon, he is out.

* * *

Robin wakes up when something hits the bottom of the car, bouncing him upwards from the momentum. He takes a few seconds to realize what happened, he looks around, and sees that he was still on the road. This time however, he was no longer in the city, as all he saw around him were mostly grasslands and some forests in the distance. He concludes that he was somewhere between the two cities. But back to the problem. "A speed hump?" he asked himself.

While he was having this thought, he hears a loud shattering sound, and all color was drained from his vision.

"What?! What is going on?!" His vision is now grayscaled, and he panics, trying to take off his seatbelt, but it not budging a single bit. A few seconds pass by, and he realizes that it was getting brighter, his hands becoming like sketches, with only the outlines defining the shape, before everything turns white, then black. He passes out.

* * *

 **Okay, so AN time, AN time, AN time! (Anyone know Dashie? No? Forget I said that then.)**  
 **So this is just a prologue to give you an idea about the OCs, just giving a bit of background before the story, a little bit of seasoning before we get into the meat.**

 **This is important! From here on out, here's how to identify dialogue in this story:**

 **(Thoughts)**  
"Spoken"  
[Keywords]

 **Also, here's the stats thing, can't have an RPG without them! (You may decide for yourself whether this has any effect on the story or not, I just have fun pulling these numbers out.)**

 **Name: Robin**  
 **Main Weapon: Unknown**  
 **Level: 17**  
 **HP: 2000**  
 **SP: 1000**

 **Base Stat Estimates**  
 **STR - 140**  
 **VIT - 100**  
 **INT - 160**  
 **MEN - 130**  
 **AGI - 160**  
 **TEC - 240**  
 **LUK - Unidentifiable**  
 **MOV - 6**

 **Well, that's all for now. See you in the next chapter!**

 **(By the way if you could drop some reviews, I'd really appreciate it. Looking for ways to improve my writing)**


	2. Chapter 1: From Humble Beginnings

"Ughh…"

Robin slowly rises from the ground to check what just happened. He remembers the bright flash of light and after remembering, he jolts full awake.

"Where am I? W-what happened?"

He tries to stand up, and it takes him awhile to just assume a proper standing position. The car he was riding was nowhere in sight. He tries to make speculations as to what happened, but decided to push the thought back first.

"Haah… I need to find some help first."

Observing the surroundings, he noticed he was in some sort of forest. Further out, he could see a clearing of grass. He decides to find some high ground first to get a vantage point and look out for the nearest city. He exits the forest, and notices that the clearing had no trees in sight whatsoever, which he found weird, since the ones he saw so far had at least some. All it was was an inclining grassland. He walks to the end of the grassland, and he finds himself facing a cliff. He looks all over the place in hopes to find a city to ask for help from.

"All water down below…" Over on the other side of the cliff he was on, he could make out some sort of landform, but gives up on it since there was no way he could get there. His eyes trace through the water and he sees a beachside. He continues to look further out and just in the distance, he finds what he's looking for.

"Is that… a city!"

He looks over for passages he could go through to get there, but he finds nothing but a steep drop to the beachside. He decides it would be best to go back and find another way through the edges of the forest.

"When I get to the beaches, I should just follow along it, and soon enough, I should see the city."

He puts his plan into action and begins his climb back down the cliffside. He enters the forest, and walks along the forest's edge for a few minutes, he realizes that he probably needs to bring along some food for this trip.

"Alright, let's get some fruits here quick."

He finds a conveniently short tree with seemingly edible fruits, which had a healthy yellow color and rounded shape, so he just settles for that. He tries a small bite, ready to spit out whatever it is just in case it was poisonous, but when nothing happened, he continued to eat. Without any backpack to put it in, he just decides to carry some fruits by hand. Before leaving however, he notices something moving. He approaches it, but not close enough that he would be noticed.

"What… is that…"

What he's looking at, the only way he could describe it, was a bluish slime with a cartoony dog face on it. It is bouncing around "happily", but Robin immediately throws the thought away when he sees it body slam a tree, leaving a noticeable damage.

"That's bad… We don't exactly know if my protector is working right now… And now is not the time to test it out."

He leaves the area as quietly as he can, and is relieved when the animal doesn't notice. He continues his trek towards the city.

About an hour of walking and observing the surroundings has passed, and he finally sees the sandy beaches.

"Alright, now to just follow this path, and I should end up in the city."

Walking along the shores was uneventful, but after awhile, he saw something which made him think about everything he's learned so far. He searches his brain for any answers, or perhaps, explanations, but finds none.

"Ooo-kay… a flying whale… Just go around it. Should be fine. Yeah. Just ignore it."

He tries his hardest to keep his steps light, and fails to notice something else sneaking behind him. As that thing got closer to him, the steps got louder and louder and when he turned around he saw,

"A f-flower…" A walking yellow tulip half his size had crept up behind him while he was distracted by the whale.

Robin sprints away from it as fast as he could. The flower behind him kept chase, and started an attack.

"I-It's gonna-!"

The flower attacked him with a body slam like the slime did awhile ago. He felt its attack, and he was sure it was a heavy one, but he didn't feel any pain. There was only a bluish hue that appeared at the area he was attacked at, which faded and disappeared a few seconds later.

"Haaha! The [Field Emitter] must be active again!"

He used this chance to get away. Sprinting away towards his original destination, he looked back and saw that the flower monster had stopped chasing him.

"Whew! What is this, some kind of weird horror game?! Is this VR?! What the hell is happening!?" He continues running, exhausting his lungs, his only thought getting away from the monster.

He distances himself from the coast for now, and enters the grasslands just a few ways from the beach. Inspecting the area and confirming there to be no weird creatures in the vicinity, he relaxes himself. He finds a tree and rests under it, trying to catch his breath for awhile.

"Just where the hell am I!?"

* * *

The sun was already setting, and just in time too. Robin had just arrived at the outskirts of the city. Looking back at where he had come from, he could no longer even see the cliff, because of the limited light. When he entered, he noticed very few people were on the outskirts of the city, mostly wearing some weird clothing, like they were cosplaying or something. This went on for a while, and Robin was scared if he'd be fine in this city, because as it stands, he is literally standing out with his plain clothing, but as he traversed the city deeper and deeper, more and more people appeared with similar clothing as him, which gave him a sense of relief.

He asks some passersby, in his exhausted and hungry voice, what the name of the city is. "Excuse me, could you tell me where I am right now?"

"Oh, you're in Planeptune."

"W-what?" Before he could ask anything else, the passerby left, and he had to find another person to ask.

 **(Planeptune? Is that the name of the city?)** Another person passes by him, and he calls their attention.

"Excuse me, could you tell me the name of this country, and the continent?"

"Huh? You're in Planeptune, kid. It's a country here in Gamindustri. I can tell you're not from here, and if you're lost, go to the Guild, or maybe even the Basilicom."

"A-and where is that?"

"Just take a right at the next turn. You should find it easily, as it has the letters literally shining outside the building."

"O-oh. Okay. Thanks."

"No problem." The man leaves, and Robin hears a slight chuckle coming from him. He ignores this, and continues his way, thankful to the man who had told him the way.

Robin, who was very tired from walking the whole day dragged his feet, to try and find the Guild or Basilicom.

"Tired... and hungry..."

While speaking to himself, he turns at the next corner and bumps into someone else.

"Ow, oh I'm sorry." the person said.

Robin however, tilted backwards and fell on his back. A loud thud was heard from him falling, which made the person he bumped into grimace.

"What the goodness?! A-are you okay?"

Robin doesn't answer first, and after a few seconds, he opens his eyes and clutches his stomach, which grumbled like a wild animal.

"Not… Not good. Passed out for a bit there…"

The person who he bumped to gave a mixture of a confused and pitiful look. She started to grab something inside the plastic bag she had on her.

"H-here, you look like you haven't eaten something in a long while."

Robin hesitates, and considers his situation. "O-oh really? Thanks!"

He heartily accepts the generosity of this person and gulps the food down, which was pudding. The sugar from the dessert had given Robin the tiny boost he had needed to last a few more hours. He now had the luxury of observe the person who helped him, the person he most likely owed his life to.

The person was a girl, with long purple hair, purple eyes, a cross on her hair that acts like a pin, and is wearing some sort of uniform. She had worn pink and white striped socks, and had some sort of white purse that was attached to her right thigh via a belt. Robin also noticed a peculiar looking hairpin she wore, which he thought seemed familiar, but couldn't quite put his finger on.

"Well then, I'll be on my-"

"Wait! Uhm, can you tell me where I am right now?"

The girl looks at him questioningly. "Hm? You're in Planeptune right now."

Robin, not satisfied with the answer, drops a bead of sweat and decides to inquire further. "P-Planeptune? I-is that like a new country?"

"Yes, and no. Planeptune is the country you're in right now, but it's not a new country by any means."

Robin thinks to himself (Was there a country that was constructed that I wasn't aware of?)

"Okay, so where are we?"

"I already said that we were in Planeptune, did you not hear me the first time?"

"Ah, no no, I meant which continent are we in?"

"Ohhh! I see. We're in Gamindustri."

At that Robin's heart drops. He was currently in a place where he didn't know anything about. He had no idea what these names of countries were or where they were located, and that terrified him.

"G-Gamindustri…?"

"Hm."

He gives a short moment of silence, thinking to himself before saying two simple words. "...I'm lost."

"...Really?"

Robin covered his mouth with his hand as a gesture that he hadn't intended those words to come out.

"Huh? I said that out loud… Anyways, thanks for the food, but you wouldn't happen to know where the… Basilicom… is located would you?" Robin says with hesitation, wondering if that was actually a thing, or if the person from before was just screwing with him.

"Oh, you're headed there I see. I can take you there, if you want."

Robin breathes a sigh of relief, and stands up to dust himself off. "That'd save me, thanks… By the way, I'm Robin." He holds out a hand.

The girl looks at the hand and smiles. She takes the handshake offer. "I'm Nepgear. Nice to meet you."

They walk for a few minutes, with Robin not saying a word, observing the city more closely, now that he has had a bite. He had concluded that this city wasn't exactly different from his home, so he finds a little bit of comfort there. The buildings looked more or less the same in his world, and the environment gave a 'cool' feeling, because of the often used colors blue and purple of the buildings.

Entering the Basilicom, Robin sees a person clad in a white and purplish robe, covering his whole body, only leaving the face exposed. "Hello, Miss Nepgear. It seems you've brought a friend.", says the man.

"Yes, it seems like he was lost, so we were just hoping to help him find his way back home."

"Oh, really? Then come with me, we'll help you out."

"Ok." Robin follows both of them into an office, with mostly purple as the dominant color. There was a rectangular table where they sat in, and across them, Robin sat in. Before both of them ask him anything, the door once again opens, revealing a tiny girl above a book, floating freely in the air.

"Hahh, I heard someone was lost here, so I came to help. That's quite surprising actually, since everyone kind of knows how to get around even at a young age."

"Ahaha... Sorry." Robin laughs at the prospect that the people here thought he knew less than a child. He shakes off this thought, trying to think positive thoughts and not make the stress affect this conversation. This was important for finding out more about this world after all, and if he was lucky, these people could be friends and help him get back. However, he notices something unusual.

Robin looks at the newly entered character for a few seconds before impulsively standing up roughly from his chair. He lowly backs away from the book fairy, his heart pounding like nothing before.

 **(What? What is going on? A little girl is riding a book and is floating freely above the air!)**

"Is there something wrong, Robin?"

"A-a-a-a floating little girl, o-o-on a book!"

The man in the robes furrows his brows and raises his voice towards Robin. "That's rude to Miss Histoire! Apologize right now to her!"

Histoire, as they call her, just sighs, and gives a forced smile. "It's okay, people usually react this way the first time they see me."

"Hm? But me and my sister didn't react like that though…" Nepgear adds as a comment.

"You both aren't regular people, for one. Oh, please, calm down, I'm here to help you find your way back to where you live. My name is Histoire."

"I-I'm Robin… S-sorry for reacting like that." Sighing, he sits down back on his seat, and the tension subsides, but not completely. Histoire flies to the table, floating just above the surface of it, disturbing Robin a bit.

"It's just not so often- or rather, I haven't seen a small person float freely while riding on a book. It's not exactly a common sight."

A slight vein appears in Histoire's forehead, though no one notices. "Please drop it with the little. *cough* Anyways, do you remember where you were from?"

"Yes, I live in Prim."

Histoire's brows furrowed and Nepgear's and the Basilicom employee's face showed confusion. The three of them said "Prim?"

"Yes." Robin said in a confident, 'matter of fact' way.

"Where is this located?" Histoire asks him.

"Do you have a map? I could point it to you."

The Basilicom employee stands up and approaches a shelf, opens it and pulls out a moderately sized map. He puts it in the table, and Robin reaches for the map. He raises his hand to prepare to point, but when he sees it, he gets confused and puts down his hand.

"Um… do you have a world map?"

"What do you mean? This is the world map, the map of Gamindustri."

"No, no, Im talking about what's outside the country waters…"

"Outside?" Histoire tilts her head, obviously confused at what Robin was saying.

"Yes, like further off from the border of this map." He gestures, making a circle around the edges of the map he held.

"Everything outside Gamindustri are bodies of water. No one can live anywhere else except here."

"What? That can't be! Is this "Gamindustri" located on the Pacific?"

"The Pacific? I don't understand… In any case, please calm down." Histoire adds, noticing hints of panic in Robin's voice.

"*Sigh*, it's like I'm not in Earth anymore…"

"Earth?"

"Eh, you guys really don't know where Earth is?" At this point, Robin speculates what could have happened to him. **(These people don't know Earth? Am I even still on Earth? If not...)** The idea of being in an unknown location was trashed in Robin's head, replaced with another suspicion that causes a bigger problem if it actually was true.

"Do you people really not know of Earth?"

The three looked at each other and shook their heads. Histoire spoke up first. "I'll try to read back my records, but I'm pretty sure that I did not hear anything about this "earth" you speak of."

"Then... Maybe this isn't Earth? Since you don't know anything about it."

"W-what do you mean, Robin?" Nepgear asks.

"In my world, my world called Earth, there were so much landmasses, and countries, and even continents, seven in fact. It seems like here there is only one. I could tell you about it, but I don't have my phone with me right now... Oh, I also almost forgot, if it helps, I could tell you where I regained consciousness."

"Regained consciousness? Did you pass out or something?" the Basilicom employee asks.

"Yeah, I think it was right around…. here." Robin points to a forest southwest of Planeptune. "I hiked this small cliff here, and there I saw the city. I then went back to the forest and followed along the beach until I reached this place." His hand stopping above Planeptune, releasing his touch and returning back to his seat.

"That's… a long walk." said the Basilicom employee.

"Yeah, took me the whole day."

Histoire shuts her eyes and thinks for a second.

"Um… Histoire?" Robin reluctanly asks what she's doing.

"Hmmmmmmggggghhhh…."

They spend a few moments in silence, waiting for Histoire to say what was on her mind.

"Ah! Perhaps you're from a different dimension!"

"!" Robin's attention is grabbed when Histoire said this. "You can travel through different dimensions?!"

"Yes, it's no easy feat, but it's definitely possible. Nepgear here even traveled to another dimension herself."

"REALLY?!" Robin turns and looks at her with hope, that this might be the answer to his current problems.

"Ahaha… I think I can see your eyes sparkling… and don't remind me Histy…"

Robin coughs to break his excitement, and assesses the possibility of him being in another dimension.

 **(I'm sure I'm not in Earth. That should have been proven when those weird monsters attacked me, what was I thinking! I'm not using my head... Anyway, I still cannot push off the probability that I might be in another world...)** He remembers something, and asks Nepgear something which might confirm his suspicions.

"Say, Nepgear. Is there... magic in this world?"

"Hm? Yes, there is... Why?"

"As I thought... Back in my world, or rather in my universe, magic is practically impossible to do, so maybe the only probable explanation for this is that... I'm in a different dimension."

Everyone keeps silent for a few moments, letting his deductions sink in.

"In any case, let me contact my other dimension self and ask about it. The Basilicom employee will assist you to your room in the meantime, as the connection probably won't be established for… three hours, and I cannot move whilst this is happening." Histoire says.

"Okay, thank you very much, you guys!"

"O-oh, you're welcome."

* * *

Robin follows the Basilicom employee as they exit the building and enter another one, a smaller building that gave of a residential vibe.

"This is a public building the Guild has created to help people like you, no wait... People that need help, is what I'm trying to say. Though, you can't stay here forever, so you'll need to make good use of your time.

"Woah, it's a nice building."

"Anyway, it sounds like you have it rough… When I heard your story, I thought that there hasn't been anyone that had given that kind of story before."

"Yeah, this might take more time to resolve than what I had originally predicted…"

They enter the building, and approach the counter, where a woman was standing.

"Okay, so we'll just get the keycard to your room first and we should be good to go." Robin nods in agreement, and waits patiently as the employee opens what seems to be a tablet to check on something before grabbing a key below the desk.

"Lucky you, there was one room left. Here's your key, first floor, furthest room from the entrance. Shouldn't be too hard to find."

"Thanks."

"Take care of yourself kid. Oh, and don't break any stuff, because if you will, you'll have to pay for it." The employee's eyes darkened at that last statement, and looked as serious as can be. Robin doesn't know if he did that just to add an effect, or if he was just joking around, or if it actually was that serious of a 'crime'.

Robin gulps and just gives a grunt of agreement.

"By the way, there's food in the canteen, so you should go and help yourself. That stomach has been growling this whole time."

"Oh, haha, I didn't even realize… Man that's embarassing…" Scratching his head, he could only laugh awkwardly.

"Well, it's time to take my leave, take care."

Robin looks on as the employee walks away. "Crap, I forgot to ask his name." Robin readies his keycard and swipes it cleanly on the door.

Nothing happens.

"Huh? What?"

He tries again and nothing happens. He gets anxious, and thoughts of sleeping outside fills his mind. He flips the card around and swipes it.

*Click* "There we go." The thoughts vanish as quick as they had appeared. Turning the knob, he enters the room, and finds it to be a small, but not uncomfortably small, just enough to make it cozy. "I think a bath would be awesome."

Robin enters the canteen, letting his hunger override his thinking. At this point, any food would have tasted good for Robin.

After picking his meals (or rather, taking one of everything) he sat down and began eating. As he was, his mind began to drift back to his home country. The things he has left behind there, his family, his friends, his job, his games…

"Wait, why am I thinking of video games? I'm literally the only Earthling here, lost in this crazy world inhabited by crazy monsters, and I'm thinking about that? I must be salty as heck. Welp, there goes my progress. And my money."

He continues to eat his food, albeit now with a little bit of distress, caused by his series of thoughts. After that, he headed back to his room to prepare for sleep.

"Histoire said 3 hours right? She'd probably finish at midnight by then. It'd be better for both of us if I came back tomorrow morning."

His mind still was swirling with thoughts, but soon enough, with nothing to do, he fell asleep.

* * *

 **Well, Betelgeiser here again! Who knows what'll happen to Robin in the next chapter? Ooooh hope you're excited, because things are going to get more action from here on out, now that I've done the basic backstory and all that jazz.**

 **Anyways, look forward to the next one!**

 **(Also drop me some of them reviews, appreciate ya'll!)**


	3. Chapter 2: Dogoos?

The next morning, he woke up early. Yawning, he slowly rises from his bed, his bedhead apparent, several tufts of hair sticking out like a sore thumb, opposite from his usually neatly combed hair. He begrudgingly gets out of bed. Robin was in no means a morning-person, and always had the most trouble during the mornings. He heads into the bath, opting for a hot shower to wake him up. Afterwards, he grabs the towel and covers himself, even though there was no way anyone could peep on him, nor does anyone want to. The Planeptune Citizen's morals were too high for that to happen.

 **(Just a precaution.)** Robin thought. Opening his closet, he takes out some complementary clothes provided by the establishment, which consisted of a white shirt, with a dark purple jacket, and some blue pants, with similarly purple colored cuffs. He was about to go to the Basilicom when he remembers he hadn't eaten breakfast yet.

After a mild detour to the canteen, eating breakfast which consisted of the average bacon and eggs, and brushing his teeth once more in his room, he continues to the Basilicom to finish the discussion with Histoire, after she cut it off last night, explaining something about contacting a person from another dimension. He approaches the counter, and asks the guy stationed there.

 **(It's a different person this time. Still look like the same clothes though. Probably a uniform?)** "Hello. Is Histoire available?" Robin says.

"Good morning. Is there something that you'd like to discuss with her?" the employee inquires, avoiding his question.

"Yes."

The guy looks at him for a few seconds, and silence reigned during this moment. Robin had felt like the man was deciding if he should allow him to meet Histoire, probably skeptical of him. He then simply says, "Please wait."

He opens a hologram and begins typing. Robin could not really see, nor was he interested. He waits patiently.

"Yes, she's coming. Please follow me." They enter the same room they had entered last night, and the new employee says, "Please wait here. Histoire is currently busy, and should be available in a bit."

Robin nods his head and waits patiently as the employee leaves the room. He walks around, looking at several books contained inside the shelves. He scans the spines quickly, before coming across a title that interests him. [Dangerous Dungeons and Monsters of Gamindustri]. He grabs the book, and opens it, and after the first few pages of prefaces and the table of contents, he comes across a picture of the same dog-faced slime he encountered in the forest. He reads the data written on it. A large text that said 'Dogoo' appeared on top of everything, and several paragraphs were written below the photo.

"The dogoo is a type of slime monster that has the shape of a teardrop, has a dog face on it, and behind it, also has a raccoon tail. These species are the weakest monsters of Gamindustri, so they find strength in numbers, or 'packs'. There have also been reports of several dogoos merging together to form a giant dogoo, although there haven't been any solid evidences yet. Scientists theorize that this is possible, given their slime-like attributes." Below the text, bolded words were written, **"Habitat: Virtua Forest"**

Robin raises both eyebrows in a show of surprise. **(Hm. Who knew these cute creatures would get such a detailed scientific description, in a book about the dangerous monsters of Gamindustri even.)** Taking a long good look at the photo of the 'dogoo', he thinks to himself, **(Cute. Can I keep one as a pet?)** He continues to the next paragraph and turns the page whenever he finishes reading. Soon enough, Histoire arrives.

"Thank you for waiting. Have you had a good night's sleep?" Histoire enters the room, and has a little bit of difficulty closing the door, with the door knob appearing larger to her, making it a need to use both her hands to close the door.

"Yep, thanks for the accommodations."

"That's good. You looked like you lost more than half your HP yesterday. Anyways, let's get to the point. I've contacted the me from another dimension and she... please stop looking at me with those eyes... It feels like you're expecting something else from me…"

Robin notices and removes his gaze immediately. "Haha, sorry, I didn't mean to, its just that these things like contacting another dimension wasn't really discovered yet on our world. And I kinda want to know how you fly, see..."

"A story for another time. *cough* Getting back ot the point, the me from the closest dimension, which we call the [Ultradimension], said that they didn't know anything about Earth too. I've asked for their help in searching for your dimension and perhaps some information about it, and they've agreed. It should take us about… three months to find more info about the dimension you are in."

"*cough cough* Three months? But what will I do by then?! I haven't brought anything, no food, nor water, nor clothes!"

"It should be fine, I've asked someone's help to introduce you to the guild after this, and that'll be basically your source of income in the meantime while we're searching for anything about your home."

*sigh* "Okay… So where do I meet this person?"

"She's waiting in the Guild building, just about a short distance from here."

"Okay... Sorry, for my outburst."

"I understand. No one wants to be separated from their families, much less their own world."

"Thanks again. So I'm supposed to head to the Guild now right?"

"Yes, and don't worry, the person who will help you should be easy to spot. Just look for a girl with an oversized jacket."

Robin thanks Histoire, and exits the room, closing the door behind him. Finding his way through the halls, which he now mostly remembered as it was his second time here, he gets to the counter, where the employee was still busy working at. He sees a huge [ENTRANCE] sign where he entered before, and exits the Basilicom through there, his steps directing him to the Guild.

 **(Heh. I like to live dangerously.)** He chuckles to himself.

His new life in Gamindustri begins.

* * *

Robin arrives outside the Guild, a building with a dominant gray color scheme, in contrast to the purple buildings surrounding it. Appropriately fitting, he thought. As he enters the building, he looks around, trying to find a person which might fill the criteria he's looking for. He then feels a tap on his back. He turns around and finds exactly who he's looking for, but it's not quite what he had expected…

"Hey, I'm guessing you must be Robin? My name's IF! Heard about you from Histoire… What is it?"

Robin stares downwards at the girl that's head only reaches up to his chin. IF notices him staring, but isn't entirely sure what he's staring at.

"Hey. If you have something to say, spit it out." IF notices his gaze, and couldn't help but feel a little bit hostile about it.

*mutter* *mutter*

"Hey! You totally said something rude didn't you! I heard that, what do you mean "there's still hope" huh?!"

"Oh, uhm… haha… Sorry, didn't mean any…" IF cut him off, not intent on hearing his apology.

"Whatever, let's just get this over with…" IF turns around puts her hands over her chest insecurely.

Meanwhile, Robin is currently feeling bad, because of what he had just caused back there. He puts his fingers on his chin, a mannerism he acquired, which signified that he was deep in his thoughts. **(She's quite short isn't she? Or maybe I'm just tall for my age? In any case, I should apologize if I have the chance, seems like she's sensitive about it...)**

IF walks quickly to their next destination, with Robin following closely behind her. Both still haven't realized the misunderstanding.

"Uh, IF? Where are we headed?"

"..." IF continues to walk, Robin now sees her seemingly walk faster, and doubts if it's just a figment of his imagination.

"Uhm... sorry about before... I really-"

*sigh* "You'll find out soon enough, so be quiet and just follow me."

Robin sighs in defeat, feeling bad that her first impression of him seems to have been in a negative way. He follows her instructions and follows her quietly.

* * *

Robin and IF are standing in what seems to be a warehouse of sorts. Some people were casually roaming around like it was a shopping mall, which was very weird, Robin thought, as at a first look he knew this place meant business.

"Is this place…"

"Yep, an armory. You pick your weapons here to use when going out to do a quest."

"Wait wait wait, is it that dangerous that we'll need weapons?"

IF looks at him like he's a crazy person. "Yeah, who knows what kind of monster will attack us while we're travelling?"

"O-oh yeah, monsters… How could I forget."

IF continues to give him a look with one of her eyebrow raised. She then asks him, "So, which weapon do you fancy? We have swords, axes, hammers, staffs, guns, anything you think of we have it!"

"Then I'll have a giant syringe as my weapon!"

"Ok, one syringe coming right up!"

"Geh!? A-ahaha… I was joking… You actually have those?" A sweatdrop appears on his face, not believing what he just heard.

IF walks over to an aisle and opens a shelf, revealing the giant syringes piled up inside. "Yeah, it's over here."

"Huh, what do you know."

IF punches him lightly in the arm.

"Yeah, and if you keep doubting me, I'll send you out there with a teddy bear."

"I wouldn't be surprised if the teddy bear was actually more powerful than the syringe."

"Ah, how'd you know?" They both look at each other in silence, wondering to themselves what the other just had said.

IF sighs, her head down, before lifting it up again. "I'm your senior, you know? You should trust me more!" she said, tapping him with the back of her right hand, the action similar to knocking on a door.

"What's this about you being my senior? What exactly are you my senior in?"

"Well, I joined the guild first, doesn't that make me automatically your senior?"

They both look at each other in silence for a while, and soon IF points at Robin with an accusing finger. "Ahhhh! You just thought 'There's no way someone shorter than me is my senior!' How dare you!" Her face red with anger, Robin quickly decided to defuse this ticking timebomb of a girl.

"I-I never said anything! Anyways, size has nothing to do with anything. L-Let's just go take a look around and get this over with." Robin quickly walks over to the next aisle, leaving IF behind.

"Ah, wait up!"

Robin inspects each of the weapons available in the guild carefully. "The unconventional ones are definitely out of the picture… And I can't say I'm pretty good with spears nor hammers…" He thinks for a bit more, before ultimately deciding his weapon.

"I'll just take 2 of these handguns."

IF looks at him questioningly. "Really? Handguns are usually sidearms, you know?"

He only shrugs in response. "Well, I'm not really familiar with these other weapons, so this is the best choice for me right now."

"You don't know how to use a rifle?"

"I do, but my aim..."

"If that's the case…" IF smirks and grabs a sniper rifle behind her, and hands it to Robin.

"Hey! I admit my aim isn't the greatest, so just drop it."

"Guy your age can't even aim properly? Pff!"

"Speak for yourself! I don't know if you've noticed, but we're both not old enough to drink here!"

Ignoring him, IF claps her hand, although the sound if muffled by the cloth of the oversized jacket making contact, instead of her two actual hands.

"Well then, now that that's solved, let's go back."

Robin grabs the 2 pistols quickly, before following IF. They walk out of the guild's armory and enter the main guild building once more. The central corridor was a place that connected the different parts of the guild together, as everyone that had to go to a specific section of the guild, say the area where they accept quests, or to the guild shop, had to pass through here. They walk for a few minutes, and soon they arrive back at the main entrance of the guild, which was coincidentally the place to take "quests" or missions.

IF turns to look at Robin, but doesn't find the rifle. "What? You didn't bring the rifle? And I sooo wanted to see you in action too..."

Robin's eyebrows furrow, before returning to normal. "I give up. Just go do your thing or whatever."

IF giggles, ecstatic at her win. "Wait for me here."

Robin nods and IF heads towards a bunch of computer systems. She walks over towards a screen, which prompted her to login using her credentials. After inputting the data, she enters her home screen, which displayed her rank, the amount of credits in her account, and the finished quests. She presses the "New Quests" tab, and looks for one easy quest.

"This one seems pretty good." The quest says [Defeating Dogoo]. She looks down at the description, which says "Dogoos have been sighted around the road near Virtua Forest. We'd like them removed from the area."

She presses the accept button, and logs out, heading back to where Robin was.

Meanwhile, Robin was casually reading a magazine in the break room for the adventurers.

"Hey, let's go. I got us an easy one."

Robin looks up, and puts back the magazine, before leaving with IF, but not without asking her of the location first.

Taking the bus to the city outskirts made the first half of their journey quick. They get off at the city limits, and from there, begin walking towards their destination.

"Hey Robin, this quest will take us the whole afternoon, just telling you this right now, so no complaining later alright?"

"I remember you said you picked an easy quest."

"I did. Did I say it was a quick quest though?" she says, Robin sensing a bit of sarcasm in her voice.

"Fair point. I have time, so no worries about that. As long as we're moving."

"You… I don't think you're used to walking that long… I doubt you'll be able to walk that far for that long."

Robin looked at her, acting with disbelief. "You underestimate me. Walking is a piece of cake, I can do it for a long time. Running is a different story though."

"Ehh… That so? Then let's get on it, we don't want to waste time." IF replies, her strides getting larger and faster. Robin adjusts his walking speed accordingly.

* * *

An hour of walking has passed. Both are still full of energy, as proven by the fact that none of them show any signs of being tired at all.

"Wait." IF puts her hand out to stop Robin. Robin instinctively stops when he was blocked.

"Look over there. Dogoos."

"Dogoos? Ah, those. You tried taming them yet?"

"We did, but nothing worked. We just gave up because it seems like monsters are impossible to be tamed."

"Hm."

"Well then, show me what you got, take care of those two dogoos. If things get ugly, I'll help, although I doubt it'll get to that."

Robin gives a sound of agreement and begins to approach the enemies cautiously. He thinks whether he should attack both at once, or take out one first, and deal with the second one later, but by then, the surprise factor would be gone.

Giving it a good thought, he decides on the latter, as engaging 2 basically unknown enemies he's had no experience dealing with at all, all at once isn't favorable.

He begins by shooting on the dogoo on his right. This of course notifies the dogoo on the left, and gathers its attention. Robin manages to stunlock the dogoo on the right with the constant alternating firing of his pistols. Paying attention closely, he defeats the first dogoo, and with his weapon, he counted it to be somewhere around 10 shots to take one out. He aims again at the second dogoo, which was now charging towards him. He gets a pair of good shots in, and begins to move perpendicularly from the enemy, thinking the momentum of the movement will make dodging easier when the dogoo attacks. He wasn't really confident of his agility when stationary, and he could not gauge how fast the lunge was yet. The movement makes him miss a few shots, but it's something he'll have to deal with for now.

The dogoo lunges, as Robin predicted, and with the momentum he gathered by running, he jumps to avoid the attack. The dogoo misses, and lands somewhere behind him. While the dogoo was recovering from its previous lunge, Robin began shooting it until it exploded into a bunch of cubes and pixels.

Robin sighs, signaling the end of the fight.

IF approaches him, and putting her hands on her waist, she says "Hey, that wasn't half bad for a beginner."

"Thanks, I had some training back in my home. Although I've never actually used these for real combat before."

"Hey. There's a first for everything."

They both continue in their journey. Only halfway through the way to their destination, they now enter the second hour of the quest.

They arrive in the outskirts of Virtua Forest. More specifically, the road near it. Robin took a good look at the forest. The forest was the same with the forests he had on Earth, in a visual aspect. However, Robin knew that inside there were something more dangerous, probably even more dangerous than the wild animals from his world. Trees populated the entrance, and as one went deeper, the trees only grew denser and closer to each other, with some shrubs and flowering plants here and there.

After checking the vicinity, IF found out that there was a larger number of dogoos than what was expected.

"This must be the problem they were talking about."

IF climbs down from the tree, where Robin waited.

"This time you'll learn how to support. I'm a melee fighter, so it's a given that I'll be up in close quarters combat against the enemy. So, you'll be there to make sure to…?" IF leaves the question hanging, wondering if Robin will get the idea.

"Make sure nothing gets behind you?"

"Bingo! Literally, watch my back."

"Got it."

Both give each other a nod of reassurance. From this point they'll need to have trust in the other, even though they started off with bad first impressions. However, the enemies don't care if you trust your teammate or not, and as such teamwork is an essential asset in every battle. As they prepare themselves to get a surprise attack on the dogoos, Robin says to IF, "You know, it's kinda sad that we have to take these cute-looking monsters too seriously…"

"Haha, individually they're no problem, but they still are troublesome to the average person, so they're still a threat."

 **(Ah, I've read that in that book just this morning.)**

"They're also good at swarming, so at times like these, it's good to have someone on your back. Anyway, ready?"

"Yeah."

IF dashes out to attack the nearest dogoo and does two successive side slashes, and defeats it quickly to move on to the next one.

"She's fast!" Robin also comes out, but only walks as he fires, as there was no need to get too close with IF around. Robin had to keep awareness and make sure not to hit her comrade, so instead of rapid-firing like his previous battle, his shots were a bit slower and more controlled now.

IF slashes the dogoos that are trying to approach her. She does an upward slash, a literal uppercut towards a dogoo that was lunging towards her, ending the monster's attack midway mid-air. As more dogoos got closer, she begins to add spins in her attacks to get a wider arc in her slashes. Her movements get looser, and she gains more agility that allows her to move around the battlefield quicker. She turns around when she senses a dogoo getting too close, but when she does, she only sees blue particles fluttering around her vision before completely disappearing.

She smiles before returning to her onslaught against the dogoos. The dogoos continuously attack, and IF continuously defeats them, more and more blue particles flooding the air. She occasionally stops her onslaught to defeat one or two dogoos that had managed to get behind her, and this gives her time to check the whole battlefield before re-engaging in battle, and because of this, she constantly is made aware of the field.

All this time, Robin's periodic and regular gunshots never stopped firing, except for the times he had to reload. He had noticed every time that when he did, some dogoos had managed to flank IF, but he extinguished his worry when he saw that she could take care of herself. Cursing his slowness, he continues firing. Soon enough, they had managed to defeat enough of them, that the few dogoos remaining just fled. IF stopped chasing them, but she heard gunshots from behind her. The gunshots got closer and closer, indicating Robin was approaching her position.

"Ah, they're getting away." he said.

"Leave 'em. Our mission was to remove the dogoos from the area, not defeat all the dogoos."

"Really? If you say so." Robin didn't really mind, as the escapee's numbers were by the single digits.

"Hm... Anyway, I'm sure they won't come back here again."

"Well, I guess that's fine. So, does that mean we're done?" Robin hesitantly asking, trying not to show both his excitement for his first successful quest, and his excitement for going back home and just resting.

"Technically, yeah. Now we just need to get back to claim our rewards."

"Oh yeah, I remembered something you mentioned about credits. How do I get those? Just in the guild?"

"Ah, those? You can get them from anyone, by working for them. It's basically compensation for your services, and are immediately sent to your account."

Robin tilts his head questioningly, and raises an eyebrow. IF sees this and realizes the problem. "Ah, you don't have one yet, don't you?"

Robin shakes his head, signifying a no.

"Then let me help you. We'll set up your account when we get back. By the way, monsters drop some credits too. I'll give you a share of what I got by beating those dogoos today, since you don't have any account for the credits to go to.

IF puts a finger to her cheek, slowly scratching it, before continuing. "A-and you helped me today, I guess… Thanks… Y-You weren't all that bad." A slight blush appeared on her face.

Robin stays silent for a second before giving a smile and a thumbs up and saying "No problem."

* * *

After arriving back in the city, IF helped Robin set up an account for the guild. He was currently sitting in front of a screen, tapping the table with a regular beat beside him, whilst IF was behind him, crossing her arms and waiting for Robin to finish.

"Will these data even be relevant? I'm sure Histoire told you before, but I'm not exactly from here."

"It's fine. So you from Lastation or something?"

"Lastation? Ah, so she hasn't told you anything yet, huh..."

This piques IF's interest, as this wasn't the reply she had expected. "Huh? Told me about what?"

"Long story short, I'm not from this dimension, I'm from another world, and my world is called 'Earth'."

"Aaahh. Hm."

Robin identified her attitude towards the situation as a bit lackadaisical, which, to him was surprising, since he essentially just told her he was from another dimension. "You don't seem that surprised."

"Oh, I am. I just don't show it. But, in all honesty, it's not the first time I've met a person from another dimension."

"Yeah... Histoire said so too... Honestly, travelling dimensions? Who comes up with that?"

IF could only stay silent, and encourage him to finish filling up the information sheet on the screen. "Well, just look at this like it's an information sheet in your world."

"Put place of birth, Prim? Wouldn't that cause some sort of trouble?"

"Eh. Histoire can probably do something about it. If you still have doubts, just put Planeptune or something."

After IF makes this statement, Robin reluctantly puts in the rest of his personal information. The only 'discrepancies' from his actual information, if he had brought with him one, was his home address in the country, which he had to ask IF for, and his place of birth, which he registered as Planeptune. After about an hour of filling in the required information, he submitted his documents. There was a little bit of questioning about some of the information cited, but was resolved quickly with a quick call to Histoire. He was given an ID Device, which allowed him to open up his account via a hologram at any time, and at this point, he was accepted as a member of the guild.

"It was kind of a rough road just for this, but now you're officially a member of the guild! Welcome!" IF gives him a welcoming smile, staying true to her words.

Robin returns the favor and smiles back. "Happy to be here!"

"Oh yeah!" IF types something in the hologram in front of her. Robin hears a ping in his, and is prompted to check. He sees the credit counter increase to 500 credits.

"There you go. Go buy yourself a meal with that or something."

"…"

"What? What's wrong?"

"Say, IF… You wanna get something to eat?"

"W-where's all this coming from?"

"Ah, well, I'm just really thankful that you're here to help me out on my first day." Robin says with a tinge of red in his cheeks. Normally, he'd just accept the money and head back home, but he was really thankful of the utter kindness shown by the people of Planeptune, that he just really wanted to return the favor to someone.

*cough* "I-I see… *sigh* I mean, sure... I'm okay with it..."

"Awesome! So, which restaurant you recommend?"

"Hm... How about Nepsaria?"

"Sounds like a pizza place."

"Yeah, it was once an exclusively pizza place. But now, they serve new types of food too. Over the past few years their menu has expanded."

"I see. Well then, let's go!"

* * *

Arriving at the diner, they are lead by the welcoming waiter to a seat close to the center of the restaurant.

"May I take your orders?"

IF sneaks glances on the waiter, who had blonde hair, and wore a butler suit, a pen on his left hand, and the notepad on his right. His body emanated an aura of elegance and nobility, further enhancing his butler look.

Robin just goes and checks the menu. He looks around for abit, before becoming undecided, and leaving the decision to his friend.

"Hey, what do you think I should get?"

He was met with silence, and Robin looks up from the menu, to catch IF sneaking glances, not at him, but at the waiter.

"Earth to IF."

"Ah, oh. Oh, you should totally get the sizzling fish filet!"

Robin grins, but doesn't comment anything about it. He just turns to the waiter, and continues his order. "Ok, I'll have the fish fillet, and onion rings. What'll you order?"

"SAME." She quickly says, not glancing at the menu.

"Thank you. Please wait for a few moments while we cook your meals." The waiter leaves, and IF sighs, Robin assumes this as a sigh of relief.

"What, the waiter too cute to handle?"

"W-w-w-w-wha-it's not like that!"

"Sure, sure. But you sure about this? Didn't you want to order something else?"

*sigh* "Not like there's anything I can do to change my order now is there?"

"Well, don't worry too much. You could always just recoup your losses with some dessert."

*sigh* "I guess you're right..."

"Although try not to freeze up when the waiter comes back." Robin giggles under his breath, his teeth showing under his smirk, his face screaming mischief.

If IF was a kettle, a loud whistling noise would have been ringing in everyone's ears right now, because her face was so red, the heat looking like it would cause genuine pain. She doesn't retort and lowers her head timidly.

Robin stops his giggling, and leans back to his chair. He looks around at the restaurant, trying to rate the restaurant's appearance, a habit he developed when he grew up.

 **(Well, the place is sparkling clean, I have to admit. Although, it could use a bit more color. Perhaps the purple hue would be a nice add to the curtains? It holds reason since the nation's theme color is literally purple. All this white is hurting my eyes.)**

Robin continues his trivial train of thought for a few minutes, and IF steps out to go to the washroom to wash her hands and face. The faucet turns on the moment her hands approach it, and she begins washing her hands, and using the soap that laid beside the faucet. She also washes her face, drying it with a handkerchief she brought. She gets a good look in the mirror, and remembers about Robin's world. She immediately leaves the washroom, intending to ask Robin about where he was from, in hopes of finding out more information. Her job in the guild was mostly information gathering after all, but it was now more of a hobby.

IF sat down back in her seat and looked straight at Robin. He notices the gaze, and asks, "Hm? There something wrong?"

"Ah, nothing. It's just that I was wondering about your old world."

"Ah, I see. Well, let me tell you. Our world was a large one, much larger than Gamindustri, I imagine, after seeing a map of this place."

*sigh* "You don't seem to be very confused about being here right now. I mean, granted all the people I've met that were suddenly put into another dimension were adventurers, so I guess they were able to quickly adapt, but you don't look like an adventurer at all. Yet, you still seem calm."

"I'll be honest, I'm quite relieved that this place doesn't look that different from home, so maybe that helped."

"Hmm..."

While both were chatting with each other, Robin noticed the waiter coming back to them, carrying two plates which he assumed were the meals they had prepared, judging from the onion rings that went along with them.

 **(Woah, they were pretty quick.)**

"IF." Robin carries a stern face, alarming IF.

"What is it?"

He leans in closer to her, and whispers, "Don't get surprised now, but the waiter's coming back now! Make your move!"

In IF's flustered state she accidentally slams the table, creating a loud noise, turning the heads of the other customers. Her eyes forming into a round shape, about to cry, and her mouth refusing to close, putting her in a perpetual state of trying to say something, but nothing coherent coming out.

"Wawawwaawaawaa?!"

Robin cackles, as the waiter arrives and serves the food. He sees IF, and silently chuckles to himself, something Robin noticed.

"Sir, ma'am. Here are your orders."

"Ah, thanks."

By now, IF has calmed down, but was still recovering. "T-Thanks." she says, her voice cracking mid sentence.

"Enjoy the meal." With this the waiter takes his leave.

"Heh-" A burst of laughter was accidentally let out by Robin, even after he had tried to hold it in.

IF glares at Robin with hatred in her eyes, and he could only sweatdrop, feeling the heat of her anger. To Robin, she could have looked like a demon, and he could have sworn there was a red glint in her eyes. He could only laugh awkwardly at the situation he's intentionally put himself in.

"I-I have a feeling... T-That tonight's gonna be a good night..." he says in a sing-song manner. He had found the song on one of his great grandfather's CD collection, and he remembered the times he had with the collection, him and his brother looking far and wide for the obsolete CD player, just to hear the music from a century ago.

This was however only an attempt at alleviating the mood, and trying to lessen the punishment he knows he will have, hoping that singing a part of the song would actually help.

That night, arriving at his apartment, a large bump was protruding from his head, and whenever he touched it he would wince.

"Alright, sure. The time I need you to work, you don't work."

Robin says to the inanimate device, the [Field Emitter], on his arm. He could only sigh, as he accepted his punishment for pushing IF too far.

* * *

 **AAAAAAND THAT'S ALL FOLKS!**

 **Look forward to the next chapter, when Robin goes camping (in ?)**

 **Anyway, time to reply to some of the reviews:**

 **Zergface - Just looked up the actual difference between a speed hump and a speed bump, thanks for pointing that out! (Don't blame me, when I looked at Google Images they looked alike...) Also, his luck skill isn't that bad, so we'll see what are the consequences of eating off a random tree. Good on your part for finding out that this isn't the Earth we know and love (though I didn't try to hide it so much). The readers will surely know more as the story continues on. Thanks for the review!**

 **ARSLOTHES - Well, here it is! (Took me long enough)**

 **See you next chapter!**


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